"Married?"
Kogasa nodded vigorously. "That's what she told me. They're doing it next month!"
"It's the first I've heard of it." Sekibanki turned back towards the door and pulled on her second boot. "Who around here officiates weddings for youkai? Are they having it at Myouren Temple?"
"At Misty Lake. I don't think it's an official thing." Kogasa tried not to hover, but it was hard not to when every fibre in her body brimmed with nervous energy. "Wakasagihime said they just want to celebrate how much they love each other. We're both invited if you want to go."
She hoped Sekibanki couldn't hear her heart thumping in her chest as she waited for a response. This was the critical point. There were several different ways in which Sekibanki might respond, and some of them meant Kogasa would never bring the subject matter up again. Well, maybe not never, but she would have to wait for some years at least.
Fortunately, Sekibanki's shrug was of the casual sort. "Why not?" Her boots now firmly on her feet, she stood up and glanced over her shoulder at Kogasa. "I don't really see the point of it, but I don't mind it either. See you later."
Kogasa's heart was pounding so wildly she almost missed her cue. "Have a good day!"
She continued to quietly vibrate in place for a long while after Sekibanki was gone.
Two weeks later, Kogasa walked back home through the Human Village while humming a tune to herself, her arm around a bag of groceries. She would usually have been at her forge at this hour, but if she followed a routine too closely, she would become predictable, and so she had instead done some bartering in the village for some lovely soup ingredients for her and Sekibanki.
She slowed down as their home came to view. Whenever her thoughts reached Sekibanki, they anchored themselves there, and she suddenly found it nigh impossible to think of anything but Sekibanki's blunt but considerate demeanour, the warmth of her rare smiles, and Kogasa's own increasingly elaborate dreams for a shared future with her.
How long should she wait to pop the question after bringing up the subject of marriage in the first place? Would a few weeks be enough for it to be a surprise, or should she allow months to pass first? Waiting for more than a year would be torture, but at least then she could almost guarantee Sekibanki's jaw would drop at the proposal.
She tried not to sigh as she gave a tiny wave at her neighbours. Maybe she shouldn't have brought up the subject at all. But then, the mere thought of proposing to Sekibanki only to discover she was virulently hostile towards the very concept of marriage made her blood turn to ice.
She suppressed a shudder as she opened the door. No. If Sekibanki really hated the idea, she would have made it known. That meant there was a chance. Kogasa just needed to find the right time to ask. "I'm home!"
"Welcome back." Sekibanki briefly turned her head to frown at Kogasa. "How many spring onions did you get?"
"Guess!" Kogasa set the groceries with their abundance of spring onions on the table, then straightened up, curious. For whatever reason, Sekibanki was crouched down facing a wall. "What's going on?"
"I think there's a mouse hole here."
"Huh?" Kogasa walked over to crouch down next to Sekibanki. "Do you think it's a problem?"
She scanned the wall. No matter how hard she peered at it, the small hole she was meant to see refused to make itself manifest. "Um. Where is it?"
Sekibanki jerked her head to the side just as she often did when she was about to wake up. "...Must have been a trick of the light."
"That's a relief." Kogasa bounced back to her feet. "I'll get started on—"
"Hold on. There's something else."
"Oh." Kogasa crouched back down, whispering conspiratorially just for the fun of it. "What it is?"
Without another word, Sekibanki raised her fist, which had until then rested on her knee, and rotated it until her fingers were turned towards the ceiling. She opened it.
A thin band of gleaming metal with a turquoise stone caught all the scant light in the room.
Kogasa stared at the ring, then at Sekibanki. She felt as though she should have been able to put the pieces together, but her mind drew a blank.
Sekibanki's expression remained passive even as she spoke in a very deliberate tone. "Kogasa Tatara, will you marry me?"
Kogasa crossed her hands over her mouth.
After several long moments — through which Sekibanki waited silently — Kogasa managed to drag her fingers from her face and her initial sensation of being struck by a thunderbolt made of sugar ebbed enough to allow other emotions in. Even then, she could only make sense of feelings that were at least cousins to astonishment. "Am I dreaming?"
"Want to get pinched for proof?"
Kogasa pinched herself instead. The sting of it felt real enough, and Sekibanki was still there. As was the ring. As were the echoes of the question.
"Yes," she finally responded, still feeling like she had wandered into a wonderful dream. "Yes, of course! But how did you..."
"Know to ask?" Sekibanki raised an eyebrow. "You were almost subtle about it, but I also know you pretty well by now. The look on your face didn't make sense if the whole thing had been just about a wedding invitation."
"I... still didn't think you would..."
"Care enough to propose?" Sekibanki looked down at the ring still on her palm. "I'm not gonna lie and say I would've thought of it if you hadn't brought it up first. Still, I already knew that if I ever wanted to marry anyone, it was you."
Kogasa couldn't help but sniffle as a swell of emotion nearly blinded her. "I love you, Sekibanki."
Warmth splashed in Sekibanki's eyes. "Likewise." She held the ring up. "Want to try it on?"
Holding back both sobs of joy and amazed laughter, Kogasa offered her hand and held her breath as Sekibanki slid the ring onto her index finger.
"Feel free to put it in another finger," Sekibanki said as she straightened her back to shrug. "I have no idea which one it's supposed to go on."
"I don't either." It seemed perfect exactly where it was, however. Kogasa stared at the ring, wondering where Sekibanki had scrounged it up from, when a sudden thought made her jerk her head up. "Wait. Shouldn't you have a ring too?"
"Maybe. Do you happen to know any blacksmiths who could make that happen?"
The giggles Kogasa had been holding back now burst free. "You won't believe it when you see it!"
"No doubt." Sekibanki's small grin tugged the left side of her face ever so slightly higher than the right. "Look at me successfully surprising the master of surprises."
This was usually the cue for Kogasa to pretend she was indignant, but she couldn't dim the smile on her face even a little. "That's not surprising. You've learned from the best."
"Fair enough."
Still beaming, Kogasa threw her arms around Sekibanki's neck and leaned in to kiss her. As soon as it broke, another joyful thought sprung up in her mind. "Now we get to plan a wedding!"
"Oh. Right."
Kogasa grinned and leaned her face against Sekibanki's. "We'll make it fun."
She could feel Sekibanki's face rearrange itself back into a smile against her cheek. "I know."
It was easy for Kogasa to slide into a second kiss, hoping to preserve Sekibanki's smile with it for as long as possible. Even as it faded, she knew they would share a future of endless hope together.